I discovered an anxiety relief technique that is essentially self-mind control for this era of uncertainty and anxiety we’re living in. This is exciting as the ability to relieve our minds and hearts of worry, anxiety, and uncertainty is needed now more than ever.

Before I share it with you I want to say this. It’s important to note that anxiety takes many forms and sometimes requires professional help.

What I’ve discovered helped me today with a bad case of the worries.

When worrying seems to be the only thing we can do, it’s hard to accept just how ineffective worrying is. What I’m about to share is helpful for those moments we are able to realize worry isn’t doing any good.

Rather than scolding ourselves or putting ourselves down because we can’t seem to just stop worrying about and overthinking something, this is a simple anxiety relief technique that has no judgement attached to it! That lack of judgment is part of what makes it effective.

Here’s what happened

Driving home from a lunch date with my husband, I was lost in thought concerning a situation over which I have neither influence nor control. It didn’t matter that it was a beautiful October day. Nor did it matter that the worry had long lost its flavor. Chewing on the problem was like enjoying a wad of Double Bubble Gum. I couldn’t stop!

But then, as if delivered by grace, I got some distance from the worry. It’s as if Worry,  having been in my face, got momentarily pulled away, giving me distance and some perspective.

In that moment I knew I needed to let go of cataloguing and catastrophizing everything that was worrisome about the situation on my mind.

I also knew I didn’t really want to give it up. Chewing on it satisfied the belief that, if I couldn’t do anything about it, the least I could do was worry.

Then this inner dialogue began:

“You’ve got to…”

“I’ve got to what? I can’t do anything about it.”

“You’ve got to stop worrying.”

“That’s true.”

“You’ve got to relax your face.”

And so I did.

I relaxed my face and the wad of Double Bubble Gum Worry disappeared. Poof! Gone.

Seconds later, when a touch of anxiety fluttered inside, I tried to pick up the thread of concern once more. I caught it this time and so again relaxed my face. The worry disappeared!

This is a true story but I can’t take credit for the insight of relaxing worry by relaxing my face.

An unexpected gain from Botox

In an article titled New Study Suggests Smiling Influences How You See the World: Can a smile trick your mind into a more positive mood?  Bryan E. Robinson, PhD talks about how the simple act of smiling, even if insincere, elevates mood.

He references the positive mood altering effects of Botox writing,

“An earlier study by Michael Lewis and his research team at the University of Cardiff in Wales found that people who received cosmetic Botox injections (compromising their ability to frown) reported being happier than did people who could frown normally. The researchers administered an anxiety and depression questionnaire to 25 females, half of whom had received frown-inhibiting Botox injections. The Botox recipients reported feeling happier and less anxious in general; more important, they did not report feeling any more attractive, which suggests that the emotional effects were not driven by a psychological boost that could come from the treatment’s cosmetic nature.”
(Robinson, 2020)

Riding in the car with my husband today, I silently chewed over worries and concerns I couldn’t fix. When I found some separation from the worry and looked at it with some objectivity, it occurred to me to extrapolate from what I’d read in Bryan Robinson’s article, that I just might calm down if I simply relaxed my face. And there was my anxiety relief technique!

I not only calmed down, my internal worry voice went silent. Without forcing anything, or berating me, but using only the expression on my face, I acted as if life were easy and calm and my mind followed.

Uncertainty is a fact of life

The thread of my internal worry conversation was fueled by uncertainty. It didn’t have a strong relationship to the current pandemic. But in or out of a pandemic, uncertainty has always been and always will be a common running theme of every human life!

Think about it. The simple tension of wondering if you will get what you want from another person (whether authority figure, family member, or even a best friend) is filled with uncertainty. Waiting for a response from that person to bring an end to the uncertainty is a small thing. Wondering when the consequences of a pandemic and its accompanying uncertainty will end is a huge thing!

To quote Robinson again, “Fully surrendering to uncertainty reduces frustration and anxiety and creates an open heart, peaceful presence, and clear mind.” (Robinson, 101)

I don’t know about you but my inclination is to overthink and worry about things that are uncertain. This is true in spite of the fact that for years I’ve had a spiritual practice of perceiving uncertainty as part of the divine mystery, as something to walk toward and lean into rather than resist. I’ve had moments where I managed uncertainty best by surrendering to it.

But these days it is extra hard to not keep a handy supply of Double Bubble Gum Worry so that I can chew the living daylights out of it!

In the face of the pandemic, I want to aim for “an open heart, peaceful presence, and clear mind.”

One way to surrender to the extra uncertainty we all face these days is to sometimes simply relax our faces and even smile.

In conclusion

Long before 2020 comes to an end “uncertainty” will be on everyone’s minds as a word of choice to describe the year. Whether with intention or not, we are all learning how to deal with personal, community, country, and world-wide uncertainty. We are all dealing with worry and anxiety.

As for me, I want to deal with all of it with intention. Today, with the gift of grace, paying attention to what was going on inside, and allowing creativity free reign, I created an anxiety relief technique that I’m now sharing with you!

I find that spiritual and psychological tools plus the creative grace of putting into practice what experts say do me good works for me.

What works for you?

`*~                                                                                                                                                                                                        

References:

Robinson, B.E., (2019), #CHILL. New York, NY: William Morrow.

Robinson, B.E., (2020, August 14). New Study Suggests Smiling Influences How You See the World: Can a smile trick your mind into a more positive mood? Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-right-mindset/202008/new-study-suggests-smiling-influences-how-you-see-the-world.